When you first start the game you are given 15 free summoning orbs to get your first set of characters; however before you go through with it you may want to play the first 5 intro missions first. This will get you 20 orbs, which will allow you to draw 5 characters at once and increase your chances of getting a rare 5 star unit.
Rerolling -
Don't like who you got in your first roll? Well by deleting your save data you can restart the intro, get your 20 orbs, and try again. Keep doing this as many times as you like, and then move on once you're ready. (NOTE: DO NOT LINK A NINTENDO ACCOUNT IF YOU PLAN ON DOING THIS)
Nintendo Account and 10 Free Orbs -
Linking a Nintendo Account will unlock bonus content in game, and allow you to instantly get 10 free summon orbs. By clicking the fountain at the bottom right of your castle screen, and then by clicking the little shining icon at the top right of this screen, you can open up your Nintendo account's page and choose which rewards you would like. You can also click the "mission" tab on this page to turn in any missions you've competed for extra Nintendo Points -- these points too can be traded for other in game bonuses (such as items that instantly refill your stamina so you can keep playing without waiting).
Upgrade Your Castle -
Once you've done your first roll, you may want to upgrade your castle. By clicking the icon at the top right on your castle screen you'll be given the option to spend orbs to increase your EXP gain while playing. The first upgrade is 1 orb and adds a +20% EXP bonus, the next is 2 for +40%, then 5 for +60%, and so on. Eventually by spending 26 orbs total you can increase your EXP gain by 100% thus doubling the EXP you gain from every kill in game. This will help you level much faster (well, twice as fast), and save on stamina. Very helpful for the next tip.
Upgrading Characters and the Items You Need -
Although 5 star units are currently the strongest in the game, they are also quite rare and not all units can be summoned as a 5 star version of themselves. So what do you do if there's a character you like at a lower star rating? You upgrade them of course! Sadly this process isn't going to be an easy one, but it can be done with a little time.
- The first step in this process is to get your character to level 20. This isn't too hard, but it will take quite a bit of stamina. For some characters you'll reach this level just by doing the main story, but for any extra ones you want to promote you'll have to go to the battle tower. Thankfully the training tower is also required for this next step, so you may be able to kill two birds with one stone.
- Once you've finished getting your character to level 20, or once you're ready to level your character in the training tower, you can then start working on getting upgrade stones. Each day the training tower offers a different type of stone, and you will have to complete training missions to obtain them. In order to use these stones to upgrade your character, you'll need to get 20 of your character's color. Lower levels of the tower give you a lower number of stones, and higher levels give you more. If you already have level 20 characters you could play the higher leveled training missions and be done with it in a few wins, and if you level your characters here you'll also reach the required amount naturally. This step isn't bad at all, but it's only part 2... Sadly 3 will be the hardest.
- The final thing you need to rank up your character is collecting feathers. Once you've met the above conditions you can then "buy" the upgrade with feathers you collect from doing different things. The values required for upgrading depends on the star level you're going for, but the two most will have to deal with will be upgrading 3 star units to 4, and 4 star units to 5. The required feathers are as followed: 3 to 4 = 2,000 and 4 to 5 = 20,000 (19,700 if you've fused two of the same units once). Yes the upgrade to 3 to 4 isn't bad, but the 4 to 5 could possibly take months. As to how you can earn feathers? See the next tip...
Once you've done the above three steps, your unit will then be upgraded to the next star rating, and it's level will be reset to 0. Sadly you'll also lose any + bonuses you got from fusing units, but I'll touch more on this below.
How to get Feathers -
Feathers act as a type of currency in Fire Emblem Heroes, and they are not that easy to come by. The ways to get them area as followed:
- Fighting in the Arena
- Getting a daily bonus from a unit visiting your castle
- Releasing heroes you do not need
To get the daily bonus, all you have to do is look at your castle screen and look for any unit that is ready to talk to you. These units are typically ones that have come to visit from friends, but I have personally seen other units give me feathers as well.
Besides relying on the daily bonus, fighting in the arena is another daily event, and it'll also be your main way of obtaining feathers. Each day you are given three passes to battle in the arena, and every time you win in a row you'll gain a point bonus. Stronger enemies will give you more points, and if another player fights against your own AI in the arena and loses, you'll also gain defense points. These points are then used to place you in a ranking system where you will gain feathers based on how well you did. For example, earning 3,001 offense points will get you 1,600 feathers when the current arena season ends (which is roughly 4 days according to our current timer), and earning around 801 - 1,000 will get you 500 instead. On the defense side, max is 251 points for 500 feathers, with the lowest being 1 - 100 points for 100 feathers. Basically what this means is, you'll be able to earn the 2,000 needed for a 3-4 star rank up quite easily, but the 4-5 rank up could take a month or so depending on how well you do in the arena.
The final main way of getting feathers isn't quite as easy, but it's a good bonus that'll help you get to your goal faster. For this all you have to do is release (sell) heroes that you no longer need. Yes this means you'll have to summon them so that you can release them, but considering you'll be getting doubles of weaker units you don't need, there's really no reason not to do this. The values for releasing units are as follows:
1 Star Units = 5 Feathers
2 Star Units = 10 Feathers
3 Star Units = 150 Feathers
4 Star Units = 300 Feathers
5 Star Units = 1,000 Feathers
If you want to release your units or not is up to you, but again it can be a nice bonus. However, I do recommend thinking twice before you release your 5 star units as duplicates can be fused together to increase their stats.
As I've mentioned above, duplicate units can be fused. While only bonus SP (points used to unlock skills on units) is carried over when fusing two units of different star ratings, fusing two units of the same star rating will result in a character becoming stronger. In my case I was able to fuse two 4 star Tharja's together to add an extra +1 to her overall level. The plus side to this is, your characters can go over the level 40 level cap this way, but the down side is that promoted units do NOT keep this stat. In other words if I were to upgrade my 4 star Tharja to a 5 star, she would lose her +1. With that being said, it's actually best to only fuse 5 star characters together, and trade in any unwanted 4 stars or below. Sure you could also work on upgrading your 4 star units to 5 so that they can be fused, but considering how much work it takes to upgrade, it may be best just to cash in for the feathers.
Leveling Crystals -
Besides fighting in the tower to level up, it's also possible to use crystals on your units instead. By completing different monthly and story related quests (fountain at the bottom right of the castle), it is possible to earn crystals. These crystals can be fused into characters to boost their level, and can help you get new units up to speed without wasting stamina on training them. Keep in mind though that these crystals are limited, so in many cases it may be best to just level the natural way.
Other Smaller Things -
On top of the tips above, there are a few other things you may want to know before going into this game.
- Units cannot die - While this is a Fire Emblem game (which is known for perma death), characters cannot die in this. Yes they can be knocked out of the mission/fight you're in, but they don't die for good. Because of this you shouldn't fear unit deaths, but instead use them to your advantage if necessary. Characters that can give their health to stronger ones can be quite useful because of that skill, and putting a character between your ranged attacker and the enemy will keep them safe. Tactics that you normally would want to avoid in the main games will work here, so don't fear trying new things.
- Use the weapon triangle - This game plays upon weaknesses so you should use them. Red > Green > Blue > Red. There's a little guide always on screen to remind you of this, but it's good to remember it without having to look. Gray units don't follow this pattern, but they do have their own strengths and weaknesses. Example, bow users can take down flying users with ease, but they must be two spaces away from an enemy to attack (meaning if a melee enemy gets in close, they won't be able to defend themselves). This is actually the most important aspect of the game, but it doesn't mean you always have to follow it. It is in fact possible to over power units you are weak against, but in general you should follow the triangle as much as you can.
And that about covers it! Again this game will continue to grow and change over time, but hopefully these tips will continue to help you guys for years to come.
